Friday Farewell!

October 25, 2013

Hello and happy Friday everyone! It seems most of us bloggers have stopped writing our final post for the week on Fridays, have you noticed? I’m guilty of this as well so I plan to begin them again because I miss it plus it’s like NOT saying bye to a good friend and just leaving the room. No more naughty bad-manners here, I’m back to my Friday farewells. What will you do this weekend? I don’t know how exciting this is to share… But we are going to hospitals tomorrow as part of a big “open house tour” so we can choose where I’ll be giving birth to our baby in January. It’s exciting but also very surreal and kind of strange, honestly.

Picking out a hospital? Thinking about a specific one for very specific reasons? Birth classes? Pregnancy yoga (which I just started doing today with Tara Lee)? There is so much to think about and do but I’m trying to stay zen and just enjoy the process and do only what I need to do and skip the rest. I think intuition has to be the drive in most things parenting-related, don’t you? But picking a hospital is a must, so we’re going to the one where Thorsten was born and to two others that were recommended to us. My husband is quite excited to tour hospitals tomorrow, which hey I’m not going to steal his thunder but I can’t say I share his zeal… YET. Maybe once I see the maternity wards and all of the cute babies I’ll be all up into that. Another cute thing about my husband lately is that he loves to dance with me in the kitchen when we cook and he rubs my belly several times a day telling me how beautiful I am. It’s like now that I look pregnant since my belly has really popped he’s completely into it. It’s like when cold weather comes, and it snows, and Santa shows up for photos then it FEELS like Christmas. In a way, I guess I’m the merry pregnant lady with rosy cheeks bringing joy in my sleigh complete with a belly that rivals Mr. Claus. Ho Ho Ho.

Aside from hospital tours, we’re also going to look at a new apartment – yes, really and yes, we’re crazy! This would mean that we’d move and renovate BEFORE the baby arrives so it would also mean we’ll be working nonstop from November until January 1st to prep and then, move, unpack and decorate with our baby boy due on January 31st. Am I crazy? Is this baby hormones? Yes and yes. BUT if the apartment is right, we’ve decided to just go for it because it will mean that my baby will have a normal-sized, lovely bedroom vs. the current shoebox he’ll have to occupy for as long as we live here. It also means wayyyy more sunlight since it’s on a higher floor and a private balcony. So we’ll see.

Outside of hospitals and housing (eek) I plan to have a really restful and peaceful weekend. More yoga, more candles and healthy foods, more nesting/organizing and maybe a Barbra Streisand film and a freshly baked cake to finish the weekend off on Sunday.

Next week on decor8, I have a gorgeous home tour for you, a trend report, some news on our apartment and whether we’ll move or not and I have a HUGE surprise to reveal on Tuesday that I am SO PROUD to share that I can hardly wait. How’s that for a Friday Farewell??? Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

xo, Holly

Psst: Registration for the next Blogging Your Way e-course is underway! Photography, Styling + Blogging!Learn more here.

28 Comments

Holly, It’s easier to move and unpack BEFORE your baby, although you may still be uncomfortable. As soon as your little guy arrives, you will want to hold him every possible minute, so I hope this works out and you can nest for the winter. Looking forward to your big news next week, too.

Good luck on finding your apartment, and your hospital tour. I had both my babies in January, and I know it can be hectic to have a baby just after the holidays. But the one good thing is that you get the holidays and birthdays out the way in one shot. And in case you had some anticipatory anxiety about the birthing pain- you’ll get through it. Of course, no one can prepare you for that, but the pain will be unique to you and you’ll handle it. Congratuluations again!!

I hope you will enjoy picking a hospital anyway. It is important that you and your baby boy feel comfortable there. I hope you have a nice weekend too, although I think it is not nice of you to keep us in limbo about the great news ;-) I would like to wish you, your fellow teachers and your students a great time during the e-course. I will not be attending this year, but I did love love BYW Bootcamp last year. Maybe next year.

Curious about moving arrangements there. When you got your current place, the kitchen was a shell and you had to put everything in. So do you pull it all out when you move? How do people make such different spaces fit?

@Victoria – Yes you either pull it all out and bring the old kitchen to the new apartment or you sell it to whoever rents your current apartment OR you just leave it there if you don’t care and cannot sell it and the landlord doesn’t mind. But 90% of the apartments have no kitchens (also no closets in any of the rooms!).

Lots of luck picking the right hospital. Great that you have to choose them. Here in the Netherlands we do give out favorite choice, but I always (well 3 times ;) ended up in a different one, due to different reasons :)) I had my last babygirl last January (well she came on the 29th of December but I was due in January) so it really brings back memories. A new apartment, wow! I loved those kind of changes close to giving birth. For me, my pregnancies were the times to change things. With my first one, I gave birth on the 1st of June and we received the key to our new house on the 4th.. So: I wish you lots of FUN!! X Femke

Congrats on all of the above, sounds like you have a very exciting weekend ahead of you! I look forward to hearing all about it! Good luck on the tours and of course the (new) apartment! So excited for BYW to start! :)

hello holly! I don’t often comment but I am definitely a fan of your blog and newsletters. I always love your attitude and honesty. always inspirational. i did yoga for quite sometime before my baby was born and that was in the ’70s … probably when you were born! anyway it definitely helped mentally, physically and spiritually … well worth it for that suppleness that one needs! enjoy and practice … being in a zen state is very beneficial. love m:)

Holly, how exciting this all sounds. It’s funny the whole picking out your hospital thing was sooo majorly important to me in my first pregnancy in Germany. But I had such a speedy delivery that I didn’t even get to take a bath or sit on a ball or whatever gimmicks they had. The second delivery was in the US – completely different story. Not much choice there – but it was even speedier than the first one so it all flew by. One piece of advice: the only thing I really missed in both hospitals was a cosy lamp by my bed. when the little one cries at night and you need to light the neon lights to change the diapers it’s so harsh on the babies eyes – so I had my husband bring me a lamp. by the way I moved end if November and my daughter was born beginning if January. It was a good choice. Good luck with the apartment! best Imke

The thing I learnt most when we had our bub – is things never happen as you plan, and therefore going with the flow is the best way. There is no bad decision, there is only what happens next! So, if the apartment is good, go for it. :)

@Sarah – So true! But then we’d GAIN a guest bedroom too so his grandmother has a place to sleep when she is visiting us – currently, our guest bedroom will be converted into a baby room and we’d have to put her in a hotel. :(

I so loved reading this post Holly, I can feel every inch of your excitement! Good luck with the apartment, you are crazy but that’s a good thing and if it’s right, it will be yours. Happy weekend x Mel

What an exiting weekend for you Holly! It is great to be crazy sometimes and yes this is called nesting. You two just want the best for you baby boy :). I’m exitet too, can’t wait to see your new home and how you are going to decorate it. You are right about blogging manners. I feel so bad neglecting my blog lately. I’m writing a book too, and it is in final phase, so there are deadlines right hire in the biginning of november…… The book is about new Slovenian Artisians-Crafters :). And that secret surprise……I really wonder what it is :)?

Creating your “nest” is easiest before the baby. Take your time, it will all fall in place. Enjoy the moments, each is a story of your adventure. The Lord less and keep you in His care, your husband and son.

Holly, yesterday i started reading your book ‘8 steps’ and now i cant wait to start my project – you will be with me for the next 2 weeks ;). Thx for inspiration! You have big projects as well and i wish you all the best w picking the right hospital AND appartment. nesting is the best you can do before delivery . A tiny tip: follow your intuition and your instincts (&i guess you are perfect with that). Being and staying “zen” is das sahnehäubchen. ;)

Good luck with finding the ONE – hospital and apartment! It is so exciting to be expecting for your first baby and nesting for me was the best part – totally normal btw, even if completely out of character… And it is a great excuse to decor8 or re-decor8 your home! ;) I did pregnancy yoga with Tara Lee’s videos and loved it – she is so zen! She has a great dvd for postnatal yoga with your baby that was so nice to do with my daughter. I hope it all goes brilliantly well and I will keep reading all the news!

I had my second daughter in Friederikenstift, and I can totally recommend it. Friendly nurses, a great midwife and the rooms where quite nice (for a hospital…;-)) But more important than all recommendations is that you go there as self confident as possible, think ahead of what you want and what you don´t want, and be prepared you may have to speek up for yourself…Nurses, doctors and midwives are human too, and they might have a bad day once in a while (some more often than others obviously…), and if they strike you unprepared it can make the whole thing fairly uncomfortable… There you have my two cents…;-)) I wish someone told me this before my first daughter was born….;-)) I wish you all the best experience birth- and babywise! You´ll rock it! ;-))